Britain's pensioners are facing rising fuel poverty, according to a report due to be published on Tuesday, with around half of those questioned saying they have turned their heating down when they are not warm enough in an attempt to save money.
The study from Age UK also reveals that around 2 million elderly people are so desperately cold that they are going to bed when they are not tired and a similar number have moved into one room, in an attempt to keep their energy bills down.
Mervyn Kohler from Age UK said the findings revealed the growing levels of poverty among many of the UK's most vulnerable elderly people.
"The figures are stark and show that people have been shaken rigid by the enormous rise in prices we saw in the second half of last year, and for individuals living on fairly straitened incomes, that hike in one of the two essential areas – the other being food – has really put the frighteners on our older population."
It emerged last year that a quarter of all households in England and Wales had fallen into fuel poverty following an autumn of steep increases in energy bills and stagnating incomes.
The dramatic increase – up from nearly one in five households earlier in the year – is embarrassing for the government, which has a statutory obligation to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016. It now looks certain to fail to meet its legal duty.
Age UK says it findings, based on an ICM survey with 1,000 over-60s, show that many of the worst affected are vulnerable elderly people. Tuesday's study will show that almost 90% of those surveyed were concerned about the impact of rising energy bills, while 43% said they had turned down the heating even though they were not warm enough.
Kohler said many pensioners were putting their health at risk by taking such drastic measures.
"People who are cutting back on the amount of fuel they are using are jeopardising their health. They are going to end up exacerbating respiratory illnesses; they are going to end up isolating themselves in their own homes, feeling miserable sitting in a cold house without anyone coming round to see them. Because the house is too cold they get depressed.
"In the end they are actually stoking up costs for one or another bit of our National Health Service as a result of starving themselves of fuel."
The report will also reveal how some older people are cutting back on food to save money.
Kohler said: "I was surprised by the magnitude of the findings … we have got some quite frightening numbers coming through from this survey."
The study follows growing concern about the plight of elderly people in the UK. Last month more than 60 government advisers, charity directors and independent experts said a failure to meet the challenge of an ageing population was resulting in "terrible examples of abuse and neglect".
An earlier Kings Fund study found the number of older people who need significant care support but receive no assistance will reach almost 900,000 in 2012 – rising to 1 million by 2015.
